 A very good evening aspirants. Today we have two important announcements. The first announcement is regarding Phoenix initiative course. It begins on 24th August 2020. The course will be having four modules and each module will be providing additional 18 tests free of cost. In this module 1 is on modern India art and culture plus free test series. Module 2 is on polity and constitution plus free test series. Module 3 is on environment and geography maps plus free test series and module 4 is on economics international organizations and science and technology plus free test series. Now these free test series consists of 18 tests in total and these 18 tests consist of 8 GS full mock tests and 3 CSAT full tests to current affairs tests covering current affairs from June 2019 to March 2020 then 5 monthly current affairs test covering month wise current affairs from April 2020 to August 2020. Each module will cost 3600 rupees and if a student or aspirant selects all four modules the total course fee is 9999 rupees and one important thing to note here is this Phoenix initiative including 18 tests is free for 2019 interview candidates and it is also free for Shankar IAS Academy's 2019-20 PCM batch students and it is free for pre-storming 2020 batch students also. Now the second announcement is regarding 2020 current affairs test series which has 18 tests in total. It begins from today and admissions will be open till 4th October 2020. Now fee for 2020 current affairs test series is 999 rupees. This test series consists of an exclusive 5 monthly current affairs test which covers current affairs from the months of April 2020 to August 2020 and the most important point to be noted is the top three merit students in each of the five monthly current affairs tests will be given 100% fee reimbursement. So in total 15 candidates will be awarded 100% fee reimbursement and for the benefit of students and aspirants if you subscribe for five monthly current affairs tests Shankar IAS Academy is also offering complimentary additional 13 tests free of cost. These additional 13 tests consist of eight G.S. full mock tests, three CSAT full tests and two more exclusive current affairs tests covering current affairs from the months of June 2019 to March 2020. The registration link for these initiators is given in the description box and also in the comment section. Aspirants can use of this opportunity to assess your preparedness for the upcoming preliminary examination. Now with this let us move on to Hindi news analysis by Shankar IAS Academy for the date 22nd August 2020. These are the list of news articles chosen for today's analysis. The link for the handwritten notes in the PDF format and the time stamping for the displayed articles is given in the description box and also in the comment section. Let's move on to the first discussion. Our first discussion is about a topic in economics which is based on this news article. It mentions that the investments through participatory notes has reached around 63,000 crores by the end of July 2020. So in this context it becomes important for us to know about participatory notes from exam perspective. We'll also see what are their pros and cons from the side of government and also to the overseas investor. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. See a participatory note is a derivative instrument issued in foreign jurisdictions. It is issued by a SEBI registered foreign portfolio investor against its underlying Indian securities and these participatory notes are formally called as overseas derivative instruments. See as per the Securities and Exchange Board of India foreign portfolio investors regulations 2019, the offshore derivative instrument means any instrument which is issued overseas by a foreign portfolio investor against the securities held by it in India as its underlying. The investor in P-notes does not own the underlying Indian security held by the FBI who issues the participatory notes that is the investors in P-notes derive the economic benefits of investing in the security without actually holding it. Now since they are not direct investors, the investors in P-notes do not have title or voting rights and also know that P-notes allow investors to gain exposure to the local shares without incurring the time and costs that are involved in investing directly. See if the foreign investor has to directly invest in the Indian securities markets as a foreign portfolio investor then there is significant cost and time implications such as seeking FBI registration then establishing domestic broker relationship then a custodian bank relationship then they have to deal with foreign exchange and bearing exchange rate fluctuation risk then there is paying domestic taxes or filing tax return then obtaining or maintaining an investment identity etc but the P-notes help in avoiding all these costs and time implications for the overseas investor. Now here note that the investor is eligible to receive dividends capital gains and any other payouts that are due to stockholders who are holding the shares of the Indian company then the investors in P-notes also benefit from fluctuations in the price of the underlying security because the value of the P-notes is linked with the value of the underlying Indian security. Now here additionally know that apart from being called as overseas derivative instruments P-notes are also called as equity linked notes then capped return notes and participatory return notes also. Now in addition to these the foreign investor who is investing in P-notes have anonymity at varying levels from the surveillance of SEBI and such an anonymity arrangement is reportedly preferred by the investors also and some reports even say that P-notes are popular because of this anonymity only. So these are some of the pros of P-notes for overseas investors. Now let us see the concerns associated with P-notes. See we already saw that P-notes are derivative instruments and they are freely tradable and they can be easily transferred. Now such transfers create multiple layers which hide the real beneficiary. It is in this context there are concerns about the identity of ultimate beneficiary and the source of funds. See here source of funds refers to the question of where from the investment actually comes. Sometimes the fund could come from a terrorist who wishes to topple the economic security of India and as we know P-notes are short-term in nature so they are volatile also that is it is the quick money which is entering Indian market so they may also leave Indian market quickly. So in this context SEBI requires the foreign portfolio investors to provide certain information in a periodical manner to know about the real beneficiary and most of this information is shared after the transactions only. Therefore it is said that there is no real-time surveillance by SEBI on these P-notes and also know that there are concerns that a lot of unaccounted money or black money enters the country through the participatory note route. So these were some of the concerns associated with P-notes. Now let us see the positives of P-notes for the economy. Obviously P-notes is a way to make indirect overseas investment in India. In that sense it allows overseas investors to invest easily in India through a foreign portfolio investor. Now such investments play a role in fueling growth of economy, industries and capital market and today's news is that as on July 2020 around 63,228 crores of money have been invested in India through P-notes. Now since these P-notes act as an investment route India could not totally ban P-notes but rather we can only regulate it. At some time Indian government restricts some activities at some times it relaxes the norms based on the prevailing market circumstances. So these are some of the information with reference to P-notes. In the analysis we saw about P-notes the pros and cons of both government and the overseas investors with respect to P-notes. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next discussion which is based on this news article it mentions about the first ever Tumbi Mahotsavam or Dragonfly Festival which will be conducted in Kerala. Here the word Tumbi denotes Dragonfly. Now this festival will be conducted to raise awareness about the importance of Dragonfly in the ecosystem. This festival will be conducted by Worldwide Fund for Nature India that is WWF India Kerala unit with participation of the Society for Ordinate Studies and Tumbipuranam. So based on this context let us understand some important facts on Dragonfly and their significance in the nature. Dragonflies and damselflies are collectively called as Odonates. They are mainly seen in forests, fields, meadows, ponds and rivers etc and about 6000 extant species are distributed all over the world and India is highly diverse with more than 500 known species. Now the difference between these dragonflies and damselflies is given here for your reference and today we will concentrate only on dragonflies. I know that there are roughly 3000 species of dragonflies in the world. Now what about their features and characteristics? See they have long bodies with two narrow pairs of wings. These wings are generally transparent and they may have colored markings also. I know that dragonflies can hover and turn 180 degrees while in flight and they can fly backwards and they can reach a speed up to 25 to 30 kilometer per hour. Further like many other organisms they also migrate. Now with respect to their diet the adult dragonflies are aerial predators and they catch insects like mosquitoes, midgets, butterflies, moths or bees and even they eat other Odonates on flight. So now what is the role of dragonflies in our ecosystem? Firstly they have great aesthetic significance. Secondly they are an important part of food chain because fishes and other species rely on them for food such as fishes are important predators during the larval stage of dragonflies and during mass emergence of these species aquatic birds such as sandpipers, turns, gulls etc also feed on dragonflies. So the dragonflies sustain the food chain and they play a significant role in conserving wetland ecosystem. So these are some of the information that you should know with respect to dragonflies. Now this practice question will be discussed in the last session. Now this next discussion is based on the recent decision by Turkish President Eddaan. He has announced that the Kareem museum in Turkey will be converted into a mosque. See as you remember very recently the Hayasofiam museum of Turkey was also converted into a mosque by Eddaan and now this Kareem museum is also going to be converted. So in this context let us focus on this Kareem museum which was formerly also known as Korah Monastery. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. Now to understand the history of this Kareem museum you should know about Byzantine Empire. This Byzantine Empire is also known as Eastern Roman Empire. See this Byzantine Empire was a vast and powerful civilization that existed from 313 to 453 AD. In 330 AD the Roman Emperor Constantine I dedicated Constantinople that is the Istanbul as the new capital of Roman Empire. He also built a new Rome on the site of the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium. In this map you can see the Roman Empire which depicts both East Roman Empire and the West Roman Empire. Now here note that the Western Roman Empire crumbled in 476 AD and the Eastern half continued for almost a thousand more years and it had a rich tradition of art literature and learning and it even served as a military buffer between Europe and Asia. The Byzantine Empire finally fell in 1453 AD when the Ottoman army stormed Constantinople during the reign of Constantine XI. Now with respect to Byzantine Empire what you should focus is the Byzantine art. This Byzantine art is almost entirely concerned with religious expression specifically the church theology. For example if you look at this picture it depicts the painting of Virgin Mary holding Jesus Christ as a child and the other two people are Byzantine rulers. So during Byzantine Empire's reign you can find these kinds of art and one such example of marvelous architectures are Hagia Sophia and also the former Korah Monastery which is also known as the Karie Museum. So now let us focus on this Karie Museum. See it is one of the famous historical buildings in Istanbul which was built during the late Byzantine era and this name Karie has came into being due to the Turkish word Korah. It means outside the city in the ancient Greek because the old church and monastery were outside the walls of Istanbul. Now this Karie Museum or Korah Monastery was first built in the 6th century then in 14th century Theodoros Metohittis who was a Byzantine statement he funded the repairing and maintenance of the church and as we have already discussed that in 1453 the Byzantine Empire fell to the Ottoman Turks then later in the Ottoman Empire during 1511 several additional features were added like during the reign of Sultan Bayezid II of Ottoman Empire features like pulpit, a mirab and a minaret were added. See in this pulpit means a raised enclosed platform in a church or a chapel from which the preacher delivers a sermon as you can see in this picture. Then mirab is a nation in the wall of a mosque and a minaret is a slender tower which is a part of a mosque and also has a balcony. So these features were added to the Karie Monastery and thus after this the church was converted into a mosque. Then later in 1948 Karie was opened as a museum associated with Haya Sofia Museum. So as a whole what you should remember is Karie Museum is a world famous monument and it has greater importance in terms of art history due to its stunning frescoes and mosaics. It features some of the most beautiful examples of the 14th century late Byzantine art and here just remember that the museum owes its admirable frescoes and mosaics which were made in the 14th century to the Byzantine statement Theodorus Metohetis. And in this Karie Museum there are several paintings and frescoes depicting the lives of Jesus and Mary and it also depict important scenes from Christian theology. So Karie is colorful and high quality marble ornaments on the floor as well as on wall surfaces also deserve attention. It also has a superior artistic value that indicates the Renaissance period in the Middle Ages. So it is very clear that Karie Museum represents the confluence of several religions and it includes elements of multiple cultures. See already the decision to convert Haya Sofia into a museum was criticized by the international community. So this current decision to convert Karie Museum is also bound to create issues in the region especially with Greece. Even already the Greek foreign minister has said that this move is a provocation against religious persons everywhere. So we can conclude by saying that converting religious structures representing multicultural identity and multi-religious history is not a progressive step and it may lead to further tensions in the region. So that is all about this discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Our next discussion is based on this editorial in which the authors talk about the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on different sections of society. For this authors focus on the impact of pandemic considering different factors like exposure of disease, employment, education, access to technology etc. And they also say how everything is interlinked. The syllabus relevant for this discussion is given here for your reference. Initially authors talk about a common thought which persists around COVID-19 pandemic which is that COVID-19 has played as a leveler in the society. That means it has impacted all the sections of society and it has reduced or narrowed the inequalities in the society. And this is because of the perceived thought that COVID-19 can affect anyone in the society regardless of one's socioeconomic condition. But authors do not support this theory. They are of the opinion that this pandemic has different levels of impact for different sections of the society. And that is why authors call that this disease is not class neutral. So who is more likely to acquire this illness? According to the authors the socially marginalized populations are the most vulnerable to the pandemic. It is because in our society the economic hardships usually overlap with social identities like caste, ethnicity and race. So these sections are most likely to contract the disease and also die due to it because of the economic distress also. The next if we discuss about the impact of pandemic on employment here also authors observe that the low wage earners, the less educated workers and racial ethnic minorities are the most severely affected by this lockdown. That is they are the sections which are most likely to lose jobs and these situations are not only true for our country but they are applicable globally. Now in India's case we have witnessed a sharp rise in unemployment during the lockdown. So who are the most affected in India? Now to answer this question authors use the data from the Consumer Pyramids Household Survey of Center for Monitoring India's Economy. Now this Center for Indian Economy is a business information company that is established as an independent think tank. I know that this CMIE measures the well-being of households using this Consumer Pyramids Household Survey. Now based on this study authors found that the fall in employment was greater in the socially disadvantaged group of schedule cast and schedule tribes compared to the casts other than schedule cast schedule types and other backward classes and among them also people belonging to schedule cast are mostly affected followed by people belonging to schedule tribes and then other backward classes etc. So this is the scenario. Now what is the reason for this scenario? Authors link this unemployment with education to show how it becomes a reason for unemployment. According to the authors the loss of employment is much more concentrated among the individuals with low levels of education and also among those who do not have any security of job. In this regard individuals with less than 12 years of education and individuals with daily wage jobs are more likely to lose jobs. So due to this education can be seen as a protective factor that means those with higher levels of education are less likely to lose jobs. But here also cast remains a big factor according to the authors and to substantiate this fact authors take the help of Indian Human Development Survey for 2011 to 12 data. Now as you know IHDS is a nationally representative survey and it is conducted by the scholars from University of Maryland National Council for Applied Economics Research, Indiana University and the University of Michigan. Now according to this IHDS 2 data adult women among the 51 percentage of schedule cast households are illiterate and 27 percentage of schedule cast households have an illiterate adult male member and this proportion is very huge compared to the households belonging to the cast other than from the schedule cast schedule tribes or OBC. So this was the scenario normally. Now if we see during lockdown we can say that this situation will be aggravated because already we are hearing news that the parents of the schedule cast households and schedule tribe households are not in a position to look after the education of their children or to monitor the education of their children and hence the children belonging to these households are going to suffer the most. In this regard if you remember recently we discussed about UNESCO's report on impact of COVID-19 with respect to education and we said that the pandemic has widened the educational divide in the world. We discussed about this in our 25th June analysis and the same applies for India as well. Now when we talk about education immediately we also talk about access to technology in this pandemic scenario because now everyone is advocating online education but here also caste disparity plays an important role because the schedule cast and schedule tribe families have less access to online education compared to other casts and this is also due to the low education of the parents their lower economic stability and also low access to such resources. They say that differential access to information technology and the lack of ability to invest in such technology will definitely hamper the education of many children in the lower strata of our society. So based on these observations authors conclude that it is essential to close the gaps between social groups first in order to successfully mitigate the effects of the pandemic in our society in a post-pandemic world. For this we should make sure that the education and health services reach the most vulnerable sections of the society otherwise the already socially backward sections will remain backward and they will be further pushed into economic backwardness also. So that is all about this discussion. In this discussion you have to take what is the socio-economic implications of the pandemic on the most vulnerable sections of our society. With this we come to the end of this discussion. The specific practice question will be discussed in the last session. Now this next discussion is based on this article which talks about the ongoing issues in Mali. The news article mentions that the Mali's military junta has released two senior government officials who were detained during the coup against the president of Mali Ibrahim Bubakar Keita. See as you know a military coup is the illegal seizure of power by military. So recently this happened in Mali which forced Mali's president to resign and now the military junta has released two senior government officials. So in this context let us discuss about Mali and also about the ongoing dispute. First know that Mali is a landlocked country of western Africa. It is bounded on the north by Algeria and on the east it is bound by Niger and Burkina Faso and on the west it is bound by Senegal and Mauritania and on the south it is bound by Kutdeva and Guinea. Now although Mali is one of the largest countries in Africa it has relatively small population and know that Niger river flows through its interior and it functions as the main trading and transport artery of Mali. So Mali's population is largely centered along the Niger river only and know that the national capital of Mali is Bamako which is also located along the Niger river and approximately 65 percentage of the country is covered by desert or it is semi-desert and Mali was a colony of France and it gained independence in 1960 only. Now the dominant ethnic group in Mali are the Bambara, then Fulani, Dogon and Thoreg etc and agriculture is the dominant economic sector of Mali and the major activities in this are cotton production, cattle and camel herding and fishing etc. Now coming to the political stability of Mali for past few years Mali has been witnessing political turmoil. Like many other nations Mali was also suffering from Islamic extremists who were having allegiance to Islamic state and Al-Qaeda and now the political instability has reached a level that a military coup has happened which has forced its president to resign and after that several government officials including the president were detained also and according to the coup leaders they acted because the country was sinking into chaos and insecurity and they want to rebuild stability in the country and they have promised to oversee a transition to elections within a reasonable amount of time according to this news article. Now with respect to Mali's situation the newspaper mentions about the UN peacekeeping mission MINASMA. It stands for United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali. It was established by the Security Council Resolution in 2013. It aims to support political processes in Mali and it carries out a number of security related tasks. Now this mission also supports the transitional authorities of Mali in the stabilization of the country and also in implementation of the transitional roadmap. Then another resolution was adopted by the Security Council in 2014. It decided that the mission should focus on duties such as ensuring security stabilization and protection of civilians and according to the 2014 resolution it shall also support national political dialogue and reconciliation and also assist in the re-establishment of state authority and MINASMA also focuses on rebuilding the security sector and the promotion and protection of human rights in that country. Now even though such a peacekeeping mission is already established in Mali now a military coup has happened. So a team from MINASMA has visited the president and other detainees to discuss about this situation. So this is the news today. Now in this you should focus about the geography of Mali and the political scenario of Mali. The display practice question will be discussed in the last session. Now we have come to the last session for the day the practice questions discussion session. Now this first question is a previous year question which was asked in 2019 prelims examination. The question asks which of the following is issued by registered foreign portfolio investors to overseas investors who want to be a part of Indian stock market without registering themselves directly. Now here without registering themselves directly is very important because all these are features of participatory note. So the correct answer is option D only. Now let us take one practice question based on participatory notes. This is a two statement question. The first statement is offshore derivative instrument means any instrument which is issued overseas by a foreign portfolio investor against securities held by it in India as it's underlying. Now this statement is correct because this is the definition of offshore derivative instrument according to the Securities Exchange Board of India foreign portfolios investors regulations of 2019 that is SEBI FPI regulations of 2019. Now the second statement is the investors of ODIs directly register themselves with securities and exchange board of India. Now this statement is incorrect because here first you should realize that offshore derivative instrument is nothing but participatory notes that is P notes and we discussed that P notes is a way to make indirect overseas investment in India. They invest through foreign portfolio investors only. So they are not directly registered with SEBI. This is what is called as anonymous participation by overseas investors in participatory notes. If you know that ODI is nothing but participatory note then you can easily arrive at the correct answer which is option A one only because statement two is incorrect. Now this next question is based on global education monitoring report 2020. It was in news recently we have discussed it. The first statement is it is an annual report which assesses progress towards sustainable development goal four on education and its 10 targets. Now here you have to focus on two things one whether this report focuses on SDG4 and whether the SDG4 is on education. Yes it is correct this report is based on SDG4 and SDG4 is on education and its 10 targets. Also know that the report addresses inclusion in education drawing attention to all those who are excluded from education because of background or ability. So statement one is correct. Now statement two states it is released by UNESCO. Now this statement is also correct. This report is funded by a group of governments multilateral agencies and foundations and it is hosted and published by UNESCO only and here the question asks for the correct statements and both the statements are correct. So the correct answer is option C. Now this next question is based on Indian Human Development Survey. The first statement is it collects data on different dimensions of human development like education, caste, gender relations and infrastructure. This statement is correct. Now the second statement is it was conducted by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Now the statement is incorrect because this research was conducted and released by the scholars from the University of Maryland the National Council on Applied Economics Research. Then scholars from Indiana University and the University of Michigan. This ministry was not involved and here the question asks for the incorrect statements. So the correct answer is option B. Two only. Now this next question is a map based question. Six African countries are given and the question asks which of the above countries shares border with Atlantic Ocean. Mali, Mauritania, Ghana, Senegal, Gabon, Niger. Now during discussion we saw that Mali is a landlocked country that means it does not share borders with seas or oceans. So one should not be in answer. So you can eliminate option A and C. Now if you know that Niger is also a landlocked country you can easily arrive at the correct answer which is option B. You can see in this map that Niger is a landlocked country but Mauritania, Ghana, Senegal, Gabon they share border with Atlantic Ocean. Now this is another map based question but it is a previously asked question. It was asked in 2014. The question asks Turkey is located between option A Black Sea and Caspian Sea, option B Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea, option C Gulf of Suez and Mediterranean Sea, option D Gulf of Acaba and Dead Sea. Now if you look at this picture you can see that Turkey shares border with Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Aegean Sea, Sea of Marmara and from this map you should take note of what are the countries with which Turkey shares its border. See for this year's prelims examination Turkey is an important topic because from 2019 to 2020 Turkey was in news in many instances. So you make sure that you know all geographical details about Turkey such as what are the countries it shares border with whether it is a landlocked country or not. As you can see it is not a landlocked country then where it is located etc etc. So now the correct answer to this question is option B Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea. Now this next question asks the Hagia Sophia and Carrier museums often seen in news are located in. Now we discussed about Hagia Sophia in July, let us revise that. The first building of Hagia Sophia Church was established during the reign of Constantius I. Hagia Sophia has interesting forms of Byzantine architecture. It has mosaics of the Christian period and structures which were added during the Ottoman era. The Ottoman Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror converted the church into a mosque and later in their 1935 Hagia Sophia museum was opened. And remember Hagia Sophia is part of historic areas of Istanbul and it is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and both of these museums are in news because they were converted into mosques by the president of Turkey Mr. Erdogan. So obviously the correct answer is Option C Turkey. Now this next question is based on dragonflies. Two statements are given. The first statement is adult dragonflies are herbivorous insects which mainly feed on nectar. Now this statement is incorrect because adult dragonflies are aerial predators and they catch insects to feed on them such as they catch insects like mosquitoes, midgets, butterflies, moths etc. So that means they are not herbivores. So first statement is incorrect. Now the second statement is they act as bio indicators which measures the quality of ecosystem. Now this statement is correct. We discussed this during the discussion. And here the question asks for the correct statement. So the correct answer is Option B 2 only. Whether we come to the end of today's Hindi news analysis and practice question discussion session. If you like the video, don't forget to like, comment and also share among your friends and do subscribe to Shankar Ayes academy for receiving more updates related to civil service examination preparation.